


To Assume Makes an Ass of U and Me

by Humansunshine



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Professors, Alternate Universe: Mundane, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Indepth trigger warnings in author's notes, Institutionalised racism, Institutionalised transphobia, M/M, Misunderstandings, Non binary Magnus Bane, Social Issues, Transgender Author, transgender alec lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humansunshine/pseuds/Humansunshine
Summary: Professors Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood fundamentally misunderstand each other. What will it take for them to figure out their differences?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written as part of the 2019 Shadowhunters Big Bang in collaboration with Noi (bxnelight) as beta and Luz (packleaderluke) on Tumblr as artist. It's written with the assumption that readers will be familiar with language surrounding transgender and sapphic experiences. If you are an ally and anything confuses you I would request that you google it first before asking me to explain things. I am not an encyclopedia. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the fic!
> 
> Trigger warnings for chapter 1
> 
> Internalised homophobia: Magnus assumes that Alec is cishet because he doesn’t ‘look gay’ to Magnus. Alec assumes Magnus is gay because of the way they dress.
> 
> Internalised transphobia: Alec assumes that Magnus is a cis gay man because of how they dress, when Magnus is actually non-binary and bisexual. He also assumes that everyone knows about his transness.
> 
> Misgendering: Alec misgenders Magnus in this chapter because he doesn’t know Magnus is non-binary.
> 
> Racist microaggression: Aline and Alec discuss the reasons why Alec doesn’t like Magnus, and Aline cautions him to keep in mind that Magnus does not enjoy the same privileges that white cis gay men do, since they’re a person of colour (though she doesn’t know that they’re non-binary either).
> 
> Discussion of transphobia: Alec talks about his experiences with cis gay men treating him badly because he’s trans.
> 
> Racism/Institutionalised racism: Aline talks about a white student she’s having trouble with who keeps on disregarding Aline’s expertise and lived experience on racism in the US. She also mentions that the other professors in the department belittle her discomfort and tell her to get over it, basically.
> 
> Institutionalised transphobia: Catarina is conducting a study on trans men and talks about the fact that she’ll most likely be up against the transphobic medical establishment.

“I have this classroom until 3pm.”

“But you know damn well that the college policy is that we end seminars ten minutes before the hour so that students can get to their next class,” Magnus gritted out, “and it’s good manners to allow your fellow professors time to set up.” 

They had this same argument every week. Magnus and the obstinate literature professor who insisted on teaching right up to the moment before Magnus’ lesson was due to start. Neither of them ever budged. 

“You have no idea how much material I need to cover in two hours;” Professor Lightwood insisted, putting his papers back into his large briefcase. “I have to get through a book every two seminars, and unlike you scientists, I actually need to discuss points rather than just talking at my students for an hour and a half using a pre-prepared PowerPoint.” 

“Yes, well,” Magnus gritted out, “some of us actually have real-world problems to fix, you know, like the antibiotic crisis, and-”

Professor Lightwood scoffed. “Because I’m sure your first year ‘Introduction to Analytical Chemistry’ module is leading the charge in the antibiotic crisis.”

“Oh, so you did read the schedule for this room!”

“I did, and it says you get this room from 3pm. It’s 2.58.” Professor Lightwood insisted, pointing at the clock. “All my students are gone, and none of yours have arrived. You’re trying to make my life miserable for no good reason. I get it, Professor Bane, you don’t want people like me in the college.” 

Magnus actually laughed. “Right, because you’re the oppressed one here.” It must be so hard being a cishet white man in a liberal college, Magnus wanted to yell, but they knew that Professor Lightwood would run to the dean and cry reverse racism, cisphobia and heterophobia. The thought of it made Magnus even madder. 

Professor Lightwood didn’t say another word, snatching up his jacket and stalking out of the room. Magnus glared at the empty doorway for a long moment once he’d disappeared through it. They told themselves every week that they wouldn’t let Professor Lightwood get under their skin, and every week the man had their teeth grinding together. It wasn’t like them to rise; over the years they’d honed the art of succinct, withering retorts, but something about this Professor just wound Magnus up. 

“Hey, Magnus,” one of their students piped up as he took his seat towards the back of the room. “I’m glad I caught you before the others arrived, I had a question about the assignment.”

Magnus forced themselves to focus on Raphael, the student. They liked Raphael well enough; he always did the reading. “Oh? What’s on your mind?” Magnus asked, opening up their laptop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alec was still fuming when he got to his car. Aline was already there waiting for him, perched on the hood drinking out of her ‘Queen Lesbian’ reusable cup. She quirked her eyebrow at the clear tension rolling off him, hopping down. 

“Don’t tell me, Professor-”

“Is he gonna yell at me literally every week?!” Alec blurted out, yanking open the driver’s door and sliding into the car. He twisted to put his bag on the backseat as Aline got in the car. 

Aline hummed, putting on her seatbelt. “Can’t you come to a compromise, like, you get out of there are 2.55?” 

“I don’t compromise with transphobes.” Alec muttered, flexing his neck as he started the car.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Aline put out her hand to touch Alec’s wrist when he reached for the gearstick. “Why exactly do you think he’s transphobic?”

Alec was confused, his frown deepening. “Because he hates me for literally no reason?” 

“And remind me, isn’t he Asian?” Aline asked pointedly, her eyebrow arched. “You sure you’re not jumping to conclusions because he’s not white?” 

“What? No!” Alec insisted, “God no, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant at all. No, Aline,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead. “No, I just… I’ve always been treated like shit by the cis gay community. It’s like I piss them off by existing. I recognise the hatred in his eyes, he’s disgusted by me.” 

“I get your hang-ups,” Aline assured him. “Just… You know, keep in mind that he’s not your average white middle class cis gay guy. Not like he’s exactly in the masc-for-masc white grindr fuckboy clique either.”

Alec nodded, eyes on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry to sound ignorant, but it made sense in my head. He just… Makes me so mad. I don’t know what it is about him, he just… He knows how to push my buttons.”

“You want my honest opinion?” Aline asked, looking out the window to wave at a couple of professors from her department. 

“Always,” Alec smiled wryly. This was bound to be brutal, but that was why Aline was his best friend. She never shied away from calling him out on his bullshit. 

“I think you’re pissed because you wanted to hit on him and then he was mean to you.” 

It was said so casually that it actually shocked Alec into silence for a long moment, his mouth a little open. Not for the first time, Alec wondered if Aline could read his mind. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, it’s not?” Aline asked innocently. 

“Definitely not.” Alec grumbled, his eyes on the road. He could feel her looking at him, and his cheeks went a little pink. “I don’t like stuck up guys.”

“But you do like a man in slacks and waistcoats,” Aline pointed out, “and I’ve seen Professor Bane around campus enough to know that he is one well-dressed guy.”

Alec squirmed. “The point is,” he stressed, “he hates me. Because I’m trans.” 

“You sure he even knows you’re trans?” 

“Everyone knows,” Alec muttered, “the students talk.”

“True,” Aline allowed, “they can be pretty hateful when they want to be.”

Alec side-eyed her. “Someone giving you trouble?” 

“I’m a lesbian Asian-American political science professor in Trump’s America, trouble is the default.” Aline sighed, resting her elbow against the window and tangling her fingers in her hair. 

“I’m sorry,” Alec said softly, “anything I can do?”

Aline hummed, shrugging one shoulder. “There’s this one girl, she’s not really MAGA but she very vocally only gives a fuck about white people. Whenever I bring up race issues she keeps insisting that its a class issue rather than a race issue, and I’m like, trying to explain to her that it’s more complicated than that, but she’s so stubborn. She’s from Alabama, so I’m trying to be patient, but-”

“Sounds like you have the patience of a saint, Ale,” Alec shook his head, tutting. “Some of these kids worry me.”

“Yeah, it’s just bumming me out because usually I can get through to them on something, but this girl… She just refuses to listen, to learn. I have no idea why she’s even taking my class. What’s the point of taking political sciences if you have no interest in changing the status quo? I just don’t get it.”

“I guess some people are really invested in preserving the fucked up system we have now,” Alec replied. 

Aline had her lips pursed, her eyes far away. “It’s just so exhausting. Her arguments are flawed and outdated, but she refuses to do the reading that would open her mind. She just dismisses it as,” Aline raised her hands to do finger quotations, “propaganda.”

“Everything is propaganda,” Alec snorted, “what, does she think that the racist shit she reads isn’t propaganda?” 

“Apparently,” Aline muttered. 

“I’m sorry. I hate that you have to deal with people like that.” Alec replied. 

Aline smiled at him, though her eyes remained a little sad. “I feel like I don’t have any allies in the department either, not really. When I raise my concerns they just say that I should encourage debate in my class.” 

Alec grunted, shaking his head. “Easy for them to say when they’re white cishets.” 

“Exactly.” 

Alec sighed, shaking his head. “I wish I could make it better.” 

“It’ll be alright,” Aline shrugged, “I comfort myself with the knowledge that her argument style is flawed and it’ll mean her essays are terrible.”

“Silver linings.”

“I always manage to find one,” Aline chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Babe, I mean this in the nicest possible way,” Catarina said, mid-way through Magnus’ rant about the literature professor they were currently feuding with, “but has it occured to you that you’re overreacting?” 

Magnus wrinkled their nose. “He’s clearly a homophobe.”

“So…? Who gives a fuck what he thinks of you?” Cat pointed out, shrugging one shoulder, “he’s just some random white guy.”

“Well yeah, but he’s purposefully trying to make my life difficult.” 

“Is he?” Cat asked, and before Magnus could answer she continued, “is he actually stopping you from teaching? Are you finding yourself running late? Getting yourself in trouble with the students?” 

“No, but-”

“Then it sounds to me like you’re investing way too much energy into some random asshole. You’ve got better things to do, you’re Professor Magnus Bane. You don’t have to get mad about this nobody, you’re above that.” Cat enthused, and Magnus’ tension bled away.

“You’re right,” they admitted, “sorry for going on about it.”

“It’s fine,” Cat assured them, “but really, he’s not worth it.”

Magnus nodded. Cat could always be counted on to give them some perspective. “Thank you.” They took a deep breath, firmly pushing all thoughts of Professor Lightwood out of their mind. “I’ll probably piss him off more if I ignore him anyway.”

“Exactly,” Cat agreed, waving her paper, “and I need your help, remember?” 

“Right, right, sorry.” Magnus shook their head, “what do you need from me?” 

“Here’s my problem. My study is going to look at whether hysterectomies are medically necessary when the patient is on testosterone. Several countries’ medical establishments say that taking testosterone increases the risk of certain kinds of cancer in that reproductive system.” Cat explained.

“Right, makes sense. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that studies have been manipulated in order to encourage trans men and non-binary people to render themselves infertile.” Magnus agreed.

“Exactly. The problem is the phrasing of the call for subjects. Because sure, I can say trans men and masc non-binary people, but if I did that, you could turn up, despite the fact that you don’t have that particular reproductive system.” 

“But you also don’t want to say FTM because it’s problematic and outdated,” Magnus assumed, and Cat nodded.

“This study is already going to cause enough dysphoria in some of the subjects. I want to make this as easy as possible on them.” 

Magnus hummed, considering it for a moment. “Well, obviously it’s not completely my area of expertise, since I was assigned male at birth, but… I’d just say AFAB, honestly. I feel like that’s the least painful way to say it. Like if you say ‘trans people with a uterus’, that’s going to not only exclude people who’ve already had hystos, it’s going to make people dysphoric.”

“You don’t think AFAB will?” Cat checked.

“Maybe, but there’s no perfect answer. I would say that AFAB is the least hurtful way to put it, unless you want to put a long-winded description of the trial on there. Wait…” Magnus held up a finger, “are you only looking for subjects that are on testosterone?”

Cat’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

“Then, there you go. You’re looking for trans and non-binary people who are on testosterone.” Magnus shrugged, “then there’s minimal risk of triggering dysphoria.” 

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself,” Cat huffed, writing it down on the front of her notebook. “Do you think you could read over my methodology tonight if you get a minute?” 

“Sure, I told you I’m here for whatever you need. This research needs to be done.” Magnus assured her, taking the folder off her. “You’re brave for going down this road, Cat, the establishment isn’t gonna like it if you go against their narrative.”

“No braver than any trans person who’s trying to navigate this bullshit system.”

“True,” Magnus allowed, “still,” they nudged her, “I’m proud of you.” 

Catarina squeezed their knee. The two of them had come a long way from the day they met in their dorms at Princeton. Magnus was fresh out of foster care, larger than life and quite clearly compensating for some serious emotional trauma, while Cat was fairly quiet and studious, being the middle in a family of three children. The roommates balanced each other out, and became fast friends. Magnus had been best person at Cat’s wedding the year before, and Cat was always there when Magnus needed to rant about the latest asshole they’d found themselves dating.

Magnus got up to put Catarina’s folder in their satchel, both scientists jumping out of their skin when the door to Cat’s office burst open. Luke let himself in and closed the door behind him, panting lightly. Once the door was shut, he leaned against it and visibly relaxed, letting out a low whistle. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cat asked, her eyebrow arching.

“Sorry,” Luke sighed, rubbing his forehead, “but these two junior lecturers in my department are testing me.”

“If they’re messing with you, just tell them off. Perks of the new job,” Magnus pointed out.

Luke shook his head. “They’re not causing trouble, they’re just trying to convince me to back their new third-year module ideas.”

Cat snorted. “And?”

“And I only have enough funding for one more module in that year group, and they’re both probably literally willing to kill a man to get that spot.” Luke explained. It was his first semester as the Head of the Criminology Department, and he was still getting used to being the boss. 

“Part of the job is letting people down easy,” Magnus shrugged, putting their satchel on their shoulder.

“I know, but Clary Fray is genuinely terrifying when she’s mad, and Jace is the grandson of Commissioner Herondale of the NYPD.” 

“Classic nepotism,” Cat rolled her eyes, “should’ve known he’d come from a cop family.”

“Hey, he’s not the only one who comes from a cop family,” Luke protested, and Cat smirked, patting him on the chest.

“And you know how I feel about it.” 

“You have to be nice to me,” Luke reminded her playfully, “Dot loves me almost as much as she loves you.”

“Almost being the operative word,” Cat winked. Luke was like a brother to her; he’d grown up with Dot in Brooklyn and had introduced them at a staff mixer when Cat first started teaching at Alicante. He’d even been Dot’s best man at their wedding. “You can’t hide out here forever, you’ll make me late to dinner and I’m not above dropping you in it to escape Dot’s disapproval.” 

“Just tell them that you have a personal emergency and that you have to go,” Magnus suggested, their hand on the door handle.

“That solves the problem for right now but it won’t stop both of them following me around campus like lost puppies tomorrow.” 

Cat started to put her coat on, her eyes sweeping over her desk to make sure she had everything she needed. “You wanted to be the Head of School, this is the bullshit that you have to deal with.” She took Luke’s shoulders from behind and started to steer him towards the door. 

The three of them walked to the parking lot together, Luke glancing around when they got outside to check that Doctors Fray and Herondale hadn’t waited for him. 

“Pretty sure they’re gone, Luke,” Magnus chuckled, “what do you think you’re gonna say to them?”

“I think…” Luke considered, scratching his hairline, “that I’m going to be as fair as possible. Give both of them a one-on-one opportunity to present their ideas, and then make a decision.”

“Make them both promise that they won’t be mad at your decision before you do it. Winner takes all, loser can’t be bitter, that kind of thing,” Cat suggested, and Luke nodded.

“Yeah.” He sighed loudly. “Management sucks.”

“If I ever stand for a management job, slap me out of it, please,” Magnus agreed.

Cat hummed. “Same.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for Chapter 2:
> 
> Misgendering: Alec misgenders Magnus in his head because he still thinks Magnus is cis, but as soon as he realises that Magnus is non-binary, he switches to ‘they’ pronouns when he’s thinking about Magnus and immediately realises that he has to apologise. Jace also misgenders Magnus because he also doesn’t realise that Magnus is non-binary, and corrects himself once he learns otherwise.
> 
> Institutionalised transphobia and racism: Magnus briefly reflects on their position as the only gender non-conforming person of colour on the faculty, and its clear that the situation is stressful and tiring for them.
> 
> Questioning of a trans person: It’s in the context of a scientific study, but trans readers might find the list of questions Catarina asks Alec tiring - they’re very standard questions that medical practitioners and cis folks ask us all the time.
> 
> Ableist language: Alec calls himself an idiot for assuming Magnus’ gender. Aline uses the word ‘dumbass’ while tipsy.
> 
> Racism: Aline has to deal with a lot of racist shit from one of her students, and resorts to going to the bar across the street to forget about it. She references the fact that every year her students seem to be getting more extreme in their views.
> 
> Alcohol: Aline and Helen get drunk.

The news that Luke was going to allow Clary to do a presentation on why her module idea was worth the investment had Clary worried. She knew that the guy she was competing against, Jace Herondale, was the grandson of one of the commissioners of the NYPD. She had to absolutely nail her presentation. Domestic terrorism was an ever-growing threat not just in America but across the world, and she felt that it was important now more than ever that future law enforcement officers be well-versed in it. 

There was so much she had to say about it that she was struggling to cut it down to a five-minute presentation. She’d cleared her desk and had laid out a bunch of papers so she could see all of them, hoping that it would help her prioritise the points she wanted to make to Luke.

Technically it was her office hours, though she didn’t expect any students; the next assignment in her class wasn’t due for six weeks. Nevertheless, it was her policy to keep her door open during office hours. She’d almost forgotten, as absorbed as she was in her train of thought, so when someone knocked softly at the open door, Clary gasped and clutched her heart, wide eyes flying to the doorway.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”

Clary couldn’t speak for a moment, because the most beautiful woman in the world was standing in front of her.

Her hair was thick and curly, reminding Clary of a halo from Catholic portraits, but dark, and soft. Her eyes, equally dark, were sparkling with gentle humour, endearment, and her mouth quirked up in a charismatic smirk. Her light brown complexion was basically flawless, complemented by a deep maroon tank top and a denim jacket. Clary noted that the sleeves were rolled up, and there were a smattering of pins on the lapel.

“Hi,” Clary blurted out, relief flooding through her when she spotted the stranger’s staff lanyard.

The beautiful woman laughed lightly. “Hi. Sorry to interrupt, you look busy.”

“I’m not,” Clary assured her, rushing forward with her arm outstretched. “Are you new at the college?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, shaking Clary’s hand, “Doctor Roberts. Maia.” 

“Clary, Clary Fray,” Clary returned, shaking Maia’s hand for a little too long. 

“Ah, someone who doesn’t lead with their title,” Maia laughed, “how refreshing.”

Clary nodded, still a little awestruck. “Yeah.”

“So…” Maia gently took her hand back, and Clary swallowed hard, dropping the handshake. “What do you teach?” 

“Criminology,” Clary answered, “just the first and second core modules right now, but I’m working on setting up my own module for next semester.” 

“Oh? Cool. I’m marine biology. It’s my first year teaching after a few years researching in Florida.”

“Wow,” Clary perched on her desk, not caring if she crumpled some of her papers, “that must have been amazing.”

“It was, but Florida was just the worst,” Maia admitted, “so conservative, I just had to get out of there.”

Clary nodded. “I can imagine. So, did you move up here with a boyfriend, or…?”

“Nope, just me,” Maia smiled, looking at Clary with a little more intent, “no girlfriend either, for the record.”

“Oh?” Clary could barely keep her delight out of her voice, and it made Maia laugh. 

“I was hoping that there would be a decent LGBTQ staff network here, but no such luck.” 

“I’m gay too,” Clary said before she could think better of it.

Maia giggled. “I figured. Subtlety isn’t your strong suit.” 

Clary ducked her head. “I don’t know how anybody could be subtle around you.”

“You’re giving me way too much credit,” Maia accused, but Clary just huffed and shook her head. “So what are you working on, anyway? Looks intense.”

“I have to convince the head of school to let me run this module next year,” Clary explained, “I’m up against another professor, and he just happens to be related to a police commissioner.” 

“Ah, yikes. Tough one.” Maia sympathised. “Is the head of school cool?”

“Oh yeah, Luke’s the best. He’ll give me a fair chance, but still… I’m a little nervous about the presentation.” Clary admitted, “Jace has a good idea for a module too.”

“What are your ideas?” Maia asked, sitting down in one of the chairs usually meant for students. 

“Mine is domestic terrorism. You know, mass shootings and white supremacist marches and things like that. I feel like that area of crime is growing so fast, we need to train law enforcement to combat the specific nature of these incidents. They’re not like other forms of crime.” Clary tugged the tie out of her hair, annoyed by the strands that had fallen out, and quickly re-tied her ponytail. “I believe that a lot of these crimes could be stopped if law enforcement were more vigilant in monitoring white extremists.”

Maia hummed. “I can see why that would be an important module for the students. Presumably there’s not anything close to it already?”

“The closest is cyber crime,” Clary told her, “which is obviously very different.”

“So what’s the other guy’s idea?” Maia tilted her head to the side.

“Hate crimes,” Clary sighed, sitting down in her own chair, “which I think is also very important to learn about, but… I mean, looking at the figures, more civilians die of domestic terrorism than in hate crimes. In a perfect world we’d do both these modules, but there’s only so many time slots and only so much funding.”

“The motivations and causes of both those kinds of crimes can be similar,” Maia pointed out, “it’s a shame they both can’t run, they’d complement each other pretty well.”

“Exactly,” Clary wrinkled her nose, “I wish Luke would get rid of the white collar crime module. It’s not like white collar crime ever results in actual arrests.”

Maia giggled. “Fair point.”

Clary smiled, the sound of Maia’s laugh making her forget her stress for the moment. “So what about you? How’s teaching after all that time researching?” 

“Not as boring as I thought it would be,” Maia admitted, “my students are pretty interesting, more diverse than I expected.” 

“Yeah? That’s good.”

“Yeah, I can see myself doing it for a few years at least.”

“What’s your specialty?” Clary asked, crossing one leg over the other.

“Sharks,” Maia told her, “which is kind of a cliche, but you can never have too many shark specialists. They’re so important to the marine ecosystems they inhabit, and they’re disappearing so fast.”

“The Jaws Effect, right?” 

“Exactly,” Maia rolled her eyes. “I’d honestly slap Steven Spielberg if I ever met him.”

“I was terrified of sharks when I was a kid because of that movie,” Clary admitted, “I used to have this recurring nightmare that sharks could secretly walk on their tail fins and were coming to get me.”

Maia shook her head with a big grin on her face. “That’s maybe the weirdest shark phobia story I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of them.”

“My mind is a very strange place,” Clary agreed.

“I lived by the ocean as a kid, in New Jersey,” Maia explained, “and I loved watching the waves. I was always a little nervous to go in, but the beach was my favourite place. A lot of the kids in my school were really into horses, but I was into mermaids, so I hung out at the beach all the time. I really loved crabs, I was obsessed with them. That’s how I first got into marine biology, but then I took a module in college about sharks and I just fell in love with them.”

“What was it about them?” Clary asked, leaning on her desk. 

Maia hummed, shrugging one shoulder. “They’re just so… Cool. They almost never get sick, we think that sharks could hold the cure to a bunch of viruses, and cystic fibrosis, too. They’ve been around for, like, 400 million years, they’re a perfectly designed predator. They’re just awesome. And I don’t know, it makes me mad that humans could end up killing this incredibly old animal. What right do we have to hunt these creatures to extinction when they’ve been around for 400 million years? Ugh…” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Don’t get me started, it makes me mad.”

Clary smiled. “Guess our fields aren’t as different as you might think. We’re both fighting to keep people from hurting the innocent.” 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Maia said thoughtfully, “though I’m not sure I like the idea of being an ocean cop.”

“I don’t like the idea of being a cop either,” Clary admitted, “that’s why I’m here. I did a year of the police academy, but apparently I had too much empathy to make it as a cop.”

Maia raised her eyebrows. “They said you had too much empathy?” 

Clary nodded, “yeah. They said I’d struggle to do the job because I cared too much about treating the suspects with respect.”

“That’s worrying.”

“Yeah.” 

Maia looked at her watch. “I should probably get going, I have a class in an hour and I haven’t looked at the lesson plan since I wrote it.”

Clary bit the inside of her cheek. “No worries. Feel free to pop your head in whenever.”

“I will,” Maia promised with a small smile. “See you around, Clary.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuck!” Alec yelped, letting his head fall against the steering wheel. He’d been trying to turn his car around to park up and had forgotten to put the car in reverse, sending it jerking forward into a blue Ford. He’d already been running late for a faculty meeting, and now he had to write a note to whoever’s car it was.

He jumped out of his skin when he heard someone rap on the window, his stomach sinking when he saw that Professor Bane was standing there, face flushed with anger. Alec rolled down the window, his face burning in embarrassment.

“You just dented my car!” Professor Bane shouted, “are you kidding me?!”

“I’m so-”

“You literally drove right into it! What is wrong with you? Did you know that was my car?!”

Alec shook his head. “No, of course not!”

Professor Bane looked at his car and snorted, putting his hands on his hips. “Did the non-binary pride sticker on it bother you that much? Jesus Christ!”

Sure enough, when he looked, Alec saw a non-binary flag sticker right in the centre of the dent. “No, no, it’s not- I didn’t even know it was your car, I swear! It was an accident!”

“Right,” Professor Bane huffed, shaking their head. “Right.”

“I’m so sorry, Professor Bane, I’ll pay for any damage.” Alec promised, “it was just-”

Forget it,” the other man’s shoulders slumped, and now that their anger was gone they just looked tired. “I don’t want anything from a spoiled cishet trust fund baby like you.”

Alec was so stunned by the comment that his mouth opened and closed a few times. Faced with silence, Professor Bane snorted and walked away, shouldering their satchel. Alec’s mind raced, trying to make sense of the encounter.

Professor Bane was non-binary? And thought he, Alec, was a cishet?

Alec’s eyes widened when he realised that Professor Bane hadn’t been treating him badly because of transphobia at all. “Oh shit,” he whispered, looking at the other man’s retreating figure. He’d been making the professor’s life hell for the past few weeks all on a wrong assumption. The professor didn’t dislike him because they knew Alec was trans; they disliked him because they thought Alec hated them because they were non-binary.

He had to fix it.

Leaning over the centre console, Alec grabbed his briefcase and pulled out a sheet of paper, digging in his glove box for a pen.

~~~~~~~~~~

It didn’t help that Magnus had already been having a bad day. They’d woken up late and were rushing at the Starbucks drive-thru, which meant that they’d dropped their hot black coffee all over their crisp light grey shirt, burned their chest, and then gotten stuck in traffic next to an asshole evangelical christian who’d yelled abuse at them through two car windows for a solid five minutes. Magnus been looking forward to finally going home and had walked up to their car right in time to see Professor Lightwood drive right into their bumper. 

They had half a mind to report Professor Lightwood to HR for harassment, but they figured that the CCTV would show them losing their shit on the other professor and it would open up a can of worms. Abandoning their car for the moment, Magnus went for a walk to clear their head, feeling uncharacteristically deflated. 

It got to them, sometimes. Rarely, but sometimes. It wasn’t easy being bisexual and gender non-conforming in professional settings, especially when you weren’t white. Sometimes it felt like they were the only non-binary person in the academic world. What I wouldn’t give, they mused as they sat down on a bench round the back of the main building, for a trans or non-binary friend on the faculty.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you for coming in, I’ll be in touch,” Catarina promised one of the students who’d shown up to take part in her research, showing him out of her office. “It’ll probably be towards the end of next week.”

“Got it,” Simon promised, shouldering his backpack. “See you soon, Professor Loss.”

Cat had to hide her surprise when she saw Professor Lightwood, the guy giving Magnus a hard time, sitting in the hallway outside her office. “Are you here for me, Professor?” She asked.

Professor Lightwood furrowed his eyebrows, glancing at the door behind her. “This is the trial for trans men, right?” 

“Yes,” she answered, “of course, come in.” 

“It’s alright that I’m hoping to take part, isn’t it? The flier didn’t say…”

“No, no, you’re fine. I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect that we had a trans man in the faculty. It’s a pleasant surprise,” Catarina assured him, gesturing to the seat in front of her desk. She put all thoughts of Magnus out of her head; they’d find out that they’d misunderstood Alec on their own, she was sure.

“Oh,” Professor Lightwood squirmed in his seat. “I thought everyone knew about me. I’m figuring out that that isn’t actually the case,” he murmured, setting his briefcase down. 

“Of course, the fact that you’re taking part in this study will stay between us, you don’t need to worry about being outed by me.”

Professor Lightwood shrugged, his hands falling together in his lap. “It doesn’t bother me if people know. I’m proud of who I am.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Cat smiled, “I bet it means a lot to trans and gender non-conforming students here.”

“I hope so.”

“So, I’ve got a form for us to fill out together, I hope that’s alright.” Catarina reached for the paperwork, and Professor Lightwood nodded. “Alright, so full name?” 

“Professor Alexander Gideon Lightwood,” he answered. 

“Preferred name?” 

“Alec… Definitely not Alex.” 

Cat smiled. “I bet you get Alex a lot, huh?” 

“All the time,” Alec sighed, “I hate it.”

“Date of birth?” 

“September 12th, 1989.”

Cat jotted it down, before turning her gaze back to Alec. “Okay so some of these questions get personal, and I apologise for any clumsy language choices,” Cat knew how sensitive discussions about body parts could get with trans patients, “let me know if any words in particular bother you and I’ll try to avoid using them.”

“I’m fine with biological terminology,” Alec assured her, “Dysphoria is very rare for me these days; I started transitioning almost fifteen years ago.”

“Glad to hear it, this should be fairly quick and painless, then. Could you tell me how long its been since you realised that you were transgender?” 

Alec hummed, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at the ceiling. “I think I was quite young when I first thought to myself that I wasn’t female. Maybe ten? I came out to my parents right after I hit puberty at thirteen.”

“This is a silly question but I have to ask, are you on testosterone therapy?” Cat asked, already ticking the ‘yes’ box.

“Yeah, since I was fifteen.” Alec told her, “weekly injections.”

“Did you take a sneak peek at this form?” Catarina teased, noting down his answers.

Alec smiled. “I’ve had to go through all these questions every time I get a new doctor, they’re pretty standard.”

“Have you received any gender-affirming surgeries, or do you have any surgeries currently scheduled?” 

“Yes,” Alec answered, “the first was a bilateral mastectomy, when I was nineteen…”

~~~~~~~~~~

When Magnus got back to the car, they felt a little better. They’d spent a little while scrolling through instagram, looking at all the gender non-conforming people they followed living and thriving all over the world. It made them feel less alone, and empowered to deal with Professor Lightwood’s nonsense. Nevertheless, they were glad that the professor had gone, his car now parked next to Magnus’. 

There was a piece of paper folded in half and stuck under Magnus’ windscreen wiper, and they plucked it out before sliding into the driver’s seat. Presuming it was Professor Lightwood’s insurance details, they put it on the passenger seat next to them and put on their favourite calming playlist before pulling out of the parking lot and making their way home. They stopped off at an ice cream parlour on the way, wanting to spoil themselves after the shitty day they’d had. By the time Magnus got home, they’d almost forgotten about the bump, and it was only when they went to the passenger side to pick up their bag that they noticed the piece of paper and remembered that their car had been bumped.

“Fuck’s sake,” Magnus huffed, snatching up the paper and rummaging in their bag for their keys. 

They let themselves into the apartment and put their satchel on the dining table, throwing themselves on the couch after grabbing their laptop to sort out their insurance. They just hoped that Professor Lightwood wouldn’t contest whose fault it was. When Magnus saw that the professor had written them a full letter, Magnus sighed and strapped themselves in for some bullshit.

Dear Professor Bane,

I am so, so sorry that I hit your car. I swear to you that it was an accident, I would never bump anyone’s car on purpose, especially not because they’re non-binary. I’m guessing that you don’t know this, from what you said earlier, but I’m actually a gay trans man myself. I didn’t know what to say when you called me a cishet, honestly. I forget that I’m cis-assumed these days. I should’ve said all this to you in person, but I was just so shocked. I’m sorry.

I have to be honest. I thought you were a cis gay guy who was trying to make my life harder because I’m trans. I’ve had a lot of experiences where I’ve started speaking to a cis guy and they’ve been really hateful to me and treated me like I’m violating them just by existing. I’m guessing you know what I mean, being non-binary. I should never have made that assumption, and I am so, so, so sorry. As a trans man I should know better than to judge someone’s gender based off what I see. I’m ashamed of myself for being so cruel to you based off a wrong assumption. I apologise from the bottom of my heart, and I promise from now on that I won’t bother you. I’ll make sure to be out of the classroom early enough, and I’ll make sure that my insurance company pays for the damage I did to your car. I wish that there was something more I could do to make it up to you, Professor Bane. If there is anything else you need, let me know. My office hours are Thursdays 2-4. 

Humble apologies once more,

Alec Lightwood

Magnus’ eyebrows were almost up in their hairline by the time they finished reading the letter, and they didn’t know what to think when they finished it. Firstly, they could barely believe that they’d been so far off the mark when it came to the other professor. Now they looked back on their interactions with Professor Lightwood, though, everything started to make sense.

They thought back to the first time the two of them had spoken; Professor Lightwood had misgendered them, and Magnus had been too frazzled to respond. It was the first week of the semester, and Magnus had just finished their first seminar of the year and it hadn’t gone well. They couldn’t remember the specifics, but Magnus hadn’t felt up to explaining their gender identity to someone they’d assumed was a cishet white man. 

The other professor had been a complete asshole, anyway. He’d put a special intonation on the ‘he’ pronoun he used to refer to Magnus, and Magnus had assumed that it was a pointed thing, but now… They wondered if Alec was just trying to assert his own gender identity after presuming Magnus was going to misgender him.

Magnus groaned softly, rubbing their forehead. It was all just a big misunderstanding, borne of wrong assumptions on both sides. The whole time, they’d both presumed the other was bigoted when in reality they’d each been protecting themselves. Professor Lightwood... Alec, Magnus corrected themselves, deserved an apology, too. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Jace was waiting for Alec outside the medical department when he came out of his meeting with Professor Loss, scribbling on a little notebook he had in his hand. Alec arched his eyebrow. It wasn’t like his brother to be so diligent. As he approached, Jace looked up and shoved the notebook into his back pocket.

“What you working on?” Alec asked.

“Presentation for my hate crime module,” he shrugged, “I’m up against Doctor Fray, and she’s a massive overachiever.”

“I see.”

“How was your day, big brother?” Jace pulled a protein bar out of his backpack, offering it to Alec.

Alec sighed, shaking his head at Jace’s offer. “Well, I found out that I’m the biggest asshole on the planet.”

“I could have told you that,” Jace teased around a mouthful of protein bar.

Alec snorted, looking down at their feet as they walked towards the parking lot. “Remember I told you about that professor who’s been giving me a hard time? Professor Bane?”

“The guy you wanna hate fuck? Yeah.”

“I never said that,” Alec insisted, “that never even crossed my mind, what is wrong with you? Also, they’re not a guy.”

“First, you didn’t have to, I know you,” Jace counted off on his finger, “and second, what are you talking about?”

“Turns out they’re not a transphobic cis gay guy at all.” Alec felt so embarrassed saying it out loud; how could he have been so ignorant? “They’re non-binary and they thought I was a cishet.”

“Wait, what?!”

“They have a non-binary pride sticker on their car, and I accidentally drove into it this morning. They think I hate them because they’re non-binary, and all this time I’ve had my head up my ass because I thought they were transphobic.” Alec explained.

Jace furrowed his eyebrows. “They thought you were straight?! You? Straight?”

“I know!”

“Damn… Sounds like both of you made a lot of very wrong assumptions.” 

“I should’ve known better than to just assume someone’s gender like that, I’m supposed to be open-minded about this stuff! I feel like an idiot!” Alec massaged his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “How many other people have I assumed hated me because I was trans but actually they just thought I was some stuck-up asshole?!”

“Probably a fair few,” Jace admitted.

“God, I’m so embarrassed,” Alec shook his head. “I left a note on Professor Bane’s car apologising, I hope they read it. Fuck…” He groaned, tilting his head back. “I hate myself.”

“Chill out, Alec, they made some wrong assumptions about you, too. They’re probably gonna feel just as bad as you do.”

“Yeah, well, they didn’t run into my car, did they?” Alec grumbled, his stomach fluttering with nerves as they walked up to the car. Professor Bane’s car had gone, and Alec breathed out a sigh of relief. “Let’s go home, I’m so ready for today to be over.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Aline was so ready for today to be over. 

Lydia Branwell was making her question all her life choices. She’d started out the semester being a little dismissive of Aline’s comments about racism in modern policy making, but it now seemed like she’d gone out of her way to read racist scholarship. Some of the arguments she was coming out with now were downright white nationalist conspiracy theories. It was enough to have Aline heading to the bar a few blocks away from campus after her tutorial.

When she started teaching as a PhD student, she thought she could make a real difference to the future of politics by making the rich kids trying to make a career out of it a little more sensitive to the needs of oppressed minorities. Every year it was getting harder. Every year the students in her classes were getting more radical, more extreme. It was nice to be challenged by the far left students; they were optimistic and uncompromising in their righteous anger at the system. But the right wing students were getting equally righteous in their flawed, bigoted beliefs, and it was getting to Aline.

“Is this seat taken?” 

Aline glanced up to look at whoever had spoken to her, humming a question mark. She’d been so deep in thought that the stranger’s words had barely registered. When Aline realised that it was in fact a very cute blonde standing behind the stool next to her, she straightened up a little.

“No, no, go for it.” Aline insisted, pulling out the stool for her. 

“Thanks.” The blonde hopped up on the stool and caught the bartender’s attention. “Do you have any dark beer?” 

Aline was already one Long Island Iced Tea in, so she forgot to not stare at the woman sitting next to her. She noticed that she was wearing an Alicante College lanyard, and leaned over as the woman finished talking beer with the bartender. “Teacher or student?”

“Hmm?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowing. When Aline pointed to her lanyard, she glanced down. “Oh! I work in the HR department. Academia wasn’t for me.”

“You are literally the smartest person at that place,” Aline told her, and the blonde laughed. “I’m serious, anyone who volunteers to teach is either a dumbass or a masochist.” 

“That bad, huh?”

“Mmmmm,” Aline sighed, resting her chin on her hand. “I have this student, who is… The literal worst. Well, nah, she’s not the worst. But she’s… Almost the worst.”

“Tell me more,” the blonde encouraged, swivelling to face Aline as she took a sip of her beer. 

“Nah, I don’t want to be that drunk girl ranting about nonsense to the prettiest girl she can find,” Aline rubbed her forehead, “and now I’ve just gone and blurted that out. Wow.”

The blonde giggled, tilting her head to the side. “You’re cute enough that its endearing.”

Aline arched her eyebrow. “Yeah?”

The blonde shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah.”

“My name’s Aline. Penhallow.”

“Helen Blackthorn. Isn’t there a title in there somewhere?” She teased.

“I’m not married,” Aline assured her.

Helen laughed, shaking her head. “I meant Doctor or Professor.”

“Oh!” Aline blushed, “professor. I always forget that part.”

“Professor Penhallow. Sounds like a character from a fairytale.” Helen teased, “a name that’s just as cute as you are. Impressive.”

“If you don’t stop flirting with me I’m going to fall in love with you, you know.” Aline warned.

Helen smirked. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“So you’ve got moves,” Aline laughed, tilting her head to the side. “And good ones, too.”

“Always good to get feedback,” Helen shrugged, shifting her chair closer to Aline’s. “And there’s more where that came from.”

“Enough to keep me entertained through dinner?”

“And beyond,” Helen promised, wiggling her eyebrows.

Aline giggled. “Then you’d better down a couple more beers and get on my level.”

“A professor encouraging binge drinking on a school night? Cute and a rebel, I like that.” 

“There’s more where that came from,” Aline parroted back to her. 

Helen laughed. “Glad to hear it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for Chapter 3
> 
> Institutionalised transphobia: Cat goes into more depth explaining the transphobia in the medical community in regards to trans men and fertility. Alec is shocked by it.
> 
> Pregnancy in trans men: Alec briefly considers his feelings about pregnancy and having children. He feels the beginnings of grief for what he could’ve had, but quickly shakes himself out of it.
> 
> Discussion of transphobia: Magnus and Alec talk about their experiences facing transphobia/prejudice from cis gays
> 
> Institutionalised racism: Aline and Helen briefly talk about racism in academia. Nothing super heavy, but it is talked about.

As the week went on, Magnus felt more and more apprehensive about Thursday afternoon. They knew that Alec would keep his word and be out of the classroom on time, but Magnus wanted to talk to him. They hadn’t seen him around since the incident with the car, and they had a class at the same time as Alec’s office hours. The only opportunity Magnus had to speak to him was before Alec cleared out the classroom that had started their feud in the first place.

Magnus arrived as early as they could, thirteen minutes to three, but Alec was already gone. The room was totally empty. Magnus was annoyed at themselves for feeling disappointed. Alec was keeping his word, trying to make amends for driving into their car and assuming to know their gender identity just by looking at them. And now he was doing exactly what Magnus had wanted from him from day one: to leave the classroom with enough time to let Magnus set up.

So why did Magnus feel so disappointed?

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey,” Maia knocked on Clary’s door, her laptop cradled in her free arm. “Do you mind reading this email over for me?”

“Sure, come in,” Clary told her, closing her own laptop as Maia crossed the room. “What am I looking at?” 

“It’s gonna be sent out to all the faculty asking for expressions of interest in a staff LGBTQ network,” Maia replied. Clary caught a hint of Maia’s perfume as she bent down over her shoulder to put the laptop down, the clean, fruity smell matching Maia perfectly. It took a second of staring at the screen for Clary to focus; she felt frazzled every time Maia was close enough to touch. She hadn’t been like this around girls since she was fifteen. It was almost embarrassing.

Her eyes scanned the lines that Maia had written, nodding along as she read through the email. “It sounds good,” she assured Maia, “I think this is a great idea.”

“Yeah? Would you come to the mixer?” Maia asked.

“Sure! I can help you organise it, if you want.” 

“Really? I thought you were busy with your module thing,” Maia tilted her head to the side.

Clary nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. “Yeah, I mean… I am, but I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to help you out.”

Maia smiled. Clary missed the knowing edge to it, as interested as she suddenly was in the finer points of Maia’s email. “Well, I’d love your help, if you’re sure you have time.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun!”

“It’s a date,” Maia shrugged, and Clary looked up at her with surprise and hope in her green eyes. Maia smiled. “If that’s alright.”

“It is, completely,” Clary insisted, and Maia giggled, bending slowly to give Clary time to move away. Instead, Clary moved eagerly forwards and met Maia’s lips halfway, the kiss soft and tentative. Maia pulled away first, Clary following her lips for half an inch and her cheeks going pink when she realised that Maia had noticed.

“Anyone would think that you’d never been kissed before,” Maia teased, her soul warm at the sight of Clary so sweetly embarrassed. It was unbearably cute.

“I’ve never been kissed by anyone as beautiful as you,” Clary answered, and then it was Maia’s turn to blush. “And that’s not a line.”

Maia smiled and tilted her head to the side bashfully. “I believe you.”

The two women beamed at each other for a long moment, Maia offering her hand and stroking her thumb across Clary’s fingers. The spell was broken was a student shyly knocked on the office door, and Maia and Clary both cleared their throats, jumping apart. 

“Mel! Yes, hi, come in,” Clary urged breathlessly, her and Maia giving each other a nod as Maia hopped down off the desk and scooped up her laptop. “I’ll see you later, Doctor Roberts.”

“Yes, Doctor Fray, I’ll email you any plans.” Maia promised, making a hasty retreat from the office.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alec felt a little self-conscious now, sitting outside Professor Loss’ office waiting for his appointment. There were a fair few trans students in the corridor with him. Before he’d have assumed that they all knew why he was there, maybe that they’d feel better seeing him there. Now, after Magnus had shown him that knowledge of his trans status definitely wasn’t universal, he felt like he was taking up too much space. The silence in the corridor was awkward, the students’ eyes flicking to him and away like they were trying to get a good look at him without him knowing. 

He just wanted to blurt it out. ‘Yes, I’m trans and I teach in the English department,’ but he stayed quiet. None of them were students he recognised; they were probably just surprised that there was a trans man on the faculty. 

His phone beeped, and Alec pulled it out of his pocket to turn off the ringer, but he hesitated when he saw that he’d been sent an email with the subject ‘LGBTQ Staff Network’. For a moment, he wondered if Magnus had put his name forward, but when he opened it he noticed that it had been sent to all the staff at the college. 

Hi all,

My name is Doctor Maia Roberts and I’ve just started teaching Marine Biology here. I was disappointed to see that while Alicante College has a thriving LGBTQ student group, there’s no group for LGBTQ staff. I was just wondering if there was any interest for such a thing. 

It should go without saying but this group would be for not only LGB, but T too. Our trans siblings specifically are under attack from the current Republican administration, and they need our support more than ever. No terfs or transphobes will be tolerated at this proposed group. It will also have a zero tolerance policy for racism or ableism. Allies will be welcome to attend but will be expected to respect that LGBTQ people have lived experience that they should not speak over.

I know that all sounds very intense but let’s not set a precedence for intolerance! Please let me know if you’d be interested in attending a casual mixer in the next few weeks, or if you’d be interested in helping me organise things!

Thanks,

Maia Roberts, PhD (she/her)

It seemed to come at a great time for Alec. Since he’d realised the truth about Magnus, he wondered if the faculty at Alicante was more diverse than he’d assumed. This would be a good opportunity to meet some other queer people. He quickly replied expressing his interest, and allowed himself to think about the possibility of Magnus going. Alec wished that he hadn’t made such a terrible impression on Magnus, that he’d asked Magnus’ pronouns when they first met. All this time, they could’ve supported each other. Instead the two of them had had this childish rift. And it was all because Alec judged someone by their appearance.

In fact, Alec thought, if he’d thought about it for more than a second, Magnus’ gender presentation wasn’t particularly cisnormative. Alec had assumed a long time ago that he’d unlearned the internalised transphobia in his heart, but clearly he still had growing to do. It was embarrassing that he’d shown his ass the way he had with Magnus. He wanted so badly to redeem himself in Magnus’ eyes, but he had no idea how he was meant to do it. Magnus hadn’t come to his office hours, so presumably they weren’t interested in Alec’s friendship.

Alec couldn’t blame them.

“Alec?” Cat called, looking down at her clipboard. Both Alec and a student moved towards the door, the student chuckling nervously as they almost walked into Alec. “Oh, sorry, Lightwood,” Cat amended, a teasing smile on her face, “you trans guys need to stop choosing the same five names!”

“It’s trans masc culture,” the student called Alec shrugged, and the professor Alec laughed.

“At least we didn’t call ourselves Alex, am I right?”

“Alex is a great name!” Another student a couple of feet away piped up, a knowing grin on their face.

Alec laughed, feeling more at ease as Cat led him into the office. “So the research is going well?”

“Yes and no,” Cat told him, taking a seat and pulling Alec’s file towards her.

“Oh?” 

“The theory that’s emerging is, well… Controversial.” Catarina explained. “You know that in the UK and other European countries, as well as several states here, it’s protocol that trans people on testosterone therapy are strongly advised to undergo hysterectomies because-”

“There’s a high risk of cancer,” Alec finished for her, remembering his healthcare provider telling him that early in his own transition.

Cat nodded. “Well, it seems that the risk of cancer is actually heightened by less than 1%. So far I’ve only scratched the surface in investigating these other studies, but-”

“Wait…” Alec held up his hand, “so… What you’re saying is, we’ve all been conned into having hysterectomies?” 

“Potentially,” Cat admitted slowly. “I suspect that the aim is to make sure that trans people, especially trans men, aren’t having biological children of their own. It’s disgusting, and I’m going to do everything I can to prove that it’s safe for trans people on testosterone to keep their uterus if they want to.” 

Alec didn’t know what to say. “That’s... I…” He’d had a hysterectomy almost right after his top surgery, perhaps a little too soon. If he was being honest with himself, he’d often wondered about carrying his own child. Perhaps it would make him dysphoric, but he wasn’t sure. The thought of having a baby that was his was certainly something that made him feel something, something tender, deep in his gut. But he’d assumed that it wasn’t safe because that’s what the doctors said. He’d undergone the procedure and not really thought too hard about it since. It wasn’t like he’d had a partner who he’d seen himself having children with. It hadn’t mattered. Not until now. 

Catarina reached over and squeezed his hand. “Do you need a minute?” 

“No, no, I’m fine,” Alec assured her. “Sorry, it’s just… Wow. Shocking.”

“I know, I didn’t want to believe it either.”

Alec frowned. “If you publish this theory, won’t you be in a lot of trouble with the health insurance companies? They’re making money off these hysterectomies. They won’t like you exposing that they’re not necessary.”

“That’s a possibility, but I don’t think I have a choice,” Cat told him. “And I’m going to frame it as an opportunity for them to charge more, because elective surgeries can cost more than medically necessary surgeries. So… It would mean that the trans community would have to pay more for a hysterectomy, but that at least they’d be making an informed choice based on truth and not fear.”

“Controversial was the right word to describe it,” Alec muttered, rubbing his forehead. “Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Cat sighed, “it’s a lot.”

Alec knotted his fingers together in his lap. “I guess we’d better get to work, huh?” 

~~~~~~~~~~

“So your theory was right?” Magnus asked, squeezing some ketchup onto their veggie burger. They’d met up with Catarina for their weekly Student Union lunch date, and they’d been looking forward to the mozzarella burger for days. 

“I don’t know for sure,” Cat pointed out, “it’s still early days of the trial, but none of the people I’ve run biopsies on have come back with anything abnormal. None of them show any sign of cancer, and most of the people who’ve already had hysterectomies said that the worry about cancer factored into their decision to have one. I need a bigger sample size, but the preliminary findings aren’t looking good.”

“It makes you wonder what else doctors have been telling us is a lie.”

Catarina nodded, taking a sip of her soda. “Yep. I dread to think.” 

The two of them were quiet for a moment, brooding. “What does Dot think of all this?” 

“She wasn’t surprised,” Cat shrugged, “but she is a little worried that I’ll get in trouble for pursuing this. Not enough to not support it, obviously. I think she’s scared about what it’ll mean for my career. Especially now we’ve enrolled Madzie in this school.”

“How’s she doing there, anyway?” Magnus asked. “Is it living up to the hype?”

“I think so, yeah,” Cat smiled at the mention of her daughter. Madzie was autistic, and the school she’d been attending before hadn’t been particularly supportive of her needs. Cat and Dot had made the decision to put her in a school specially designed for autistic children, which wasn’t cheap, but they wanted to give Madzie as much support as possible. “She’s a lot happier to do her homework now because they let the kids decide what they want to do.”

“Oh yeah? That’s good. That must mean she’s enjoying being there.”

“Yeah, and she got invited to a birthday party last week. She never used to get invited to that stuff at her old school. I think she’s finally found some friends who get her, you know? A fair few of them are non-verbal, so Madzie doesn’t feel like she has to talk all the time, I don’t think. She seems a lot more relaxed getting into the car at the end of the day, always smiling. You remember how much that other school used to stress her out.”

“I do,” Magnus mused, “I swear I considered drop-kicking those asshole kids who used to pick on her.”

Cat snorted. “Dot had to hold me back more than once.”

Magnus chuckled, shaking their head. “Thank god we’ve got Dot to be the responsible adult around here.”

“Speaking of responsible adults, did you get your car fixed?” 

“Not yet, I’m putting it in the garage this weekend so I don’t have to get the bus to work. Thankfully Alec’s insurance is paying for it.” Magnus didn’t notice the way Cat arched her eyebrow, their eyes on their phone as it buzzed with an email.

“Wait, since when did ‘Professor Lightwood’ become ‘Alec’? I thought you hated him.” 

Magnus bit the inside of their cheek. “Turns out I was wrong about him. He’s not a cishet. He might be the only other openly trans person on the faculty.” 

“How’d you find out?” Catarina asked. Could she tell them now? Was it still breaking patient confidentiality?

“He wrote me a letter when he bumped my car explaining that he thought I was a transphobic cis guy and that’s why he’s been so insufferable. It was quite sweet, actually. He was very apologetic.” Magnus shrugged, “he’s not so bad.”

Cat nodded, hoping she looked surprised so that Magnus wouldn’t put two and two together. “Well, that’s amazing news that you found a friend who shares at least some of your experiences.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call him a friend.” Magnus chuckled, “I haven’t seen him since the letter.”

“Well, he might be at that LGBTQ+ staff mixer, you should come.” 

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I do want to apologise to him too, but at the same time I feel kinda… I don’t know. He apologised for judging me based on my gender presentation but like… He really should’ve known better as a trans man.” Magnus muttered.

Cat shrugged. “That’s true, but you should’ve known better as a queer person not to assume he was straight. People make mistakes. I think it would be a shame to hold his mistake against him, especially if he did apologise as earnestly as you make out.”

“That’s true.” Magnus admitted, scratching the back of their neck. “But you know how much I hate admitting I’m wrong.”

“I do,” Cat laughed, reaching across to squeeze their hand. “But you’ve said so many times how lonely it gets being the only trans person in your circle. Give him a chance.”

Magnus smiled slightly. “I hate that you’re always right.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Maia was so glad that she’d enlisted Clary’s help for the mixer; more than 50 people had shown up and they’d only received 35 RSVPs. They’d decided against having it in the bar across the street to make it more accessible for people who didn’t drink, so they’d booked a big room in the college. Clary had volunteered to run out and get some more soda and bottled water, and Maia was organising a pizza order, going from group to group jotting down everyone’s preferences.

“Okay, got it, thanks!” Maia smiled at Dr Loss and her wife Dot. Maia was glad that she had a knack for names; she hadn’t known most of these people before tonight but she felt like she was doing a good job in keeping up. 

“How much is ours?” Catarina asked, fishing her wallet out of her back pocket.

“Oh, it’s more of a donate what you want kinda deal. There’s a little box on the table with the drinks where people are putting as much or as little as they want. The money left over is going to be donated to a grassroots charity that provides taxi rides for Black trans women in the city.” Maia explained.

“That sounds like an amazing cause. Thanks for setting all this up, Maia. It’s so nice to get together like this and get to know each other.” Cat smiled, shaking her hand.

“No problem!” Maia enthused, “I’m so happy that so many people have turned up!”

Dot waved to someone standing behind Maia. “Magnus! Come and meet Maia!”

“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to go and grab a drink. Soda for you?” Catarina asked her wife, who nodded and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

Magnus looked a little anxious as they appeared at Dot’s side. “Hi, you must be Dr Roberts,” they said, holding out their hand.

“That’s me, yeah. You can call me Maia, and I use she/her pronouns,” Maia confirmed.

“Oh, mine are they/them,” Magnus answered, visibly relaxing a little. “And I’m Magnus Bane. Professor of Chemistry.”

“Ah, I’m so glad to have so many STEM people here,” Maia gushed, “I’m marine biology. I thought for sure it was gonna be all humanities people.”

Magnus nodded, glancing around. “Yeah, it’s a great turn out.”

“Is that guy here? Alec?” Dot asked them, and Magnus shrugged their shoulders.

“He’s over by the drinks table.”

Maia looked over to the drinks table and spotted a few masculine-coded people there. “Is it an ex-partner situation, or?”

“No, definitely not,” Magnus assured her, “no, it’s just… There’s been this silly misunderstanding between us and I haven’t had a chance to apologise to him for it. And Dot and Cat are strangely invested,” they muttered, Dot giggling to herself.

“Cat’s been keeping me updated with all the gossip. My job is nowhere near as juicy as a college campus.” Dot winked at Maia, who laughed.

“What do you do?” 

“I run a bookshop with my friend Jocelyn. It’s just the two of us and we get along well enough that there’s never any drama.” Dot explained with a sigh. 

“That sounds like a really lovely work environment,” Maia smiled, “I always wanted to run a library when I was a little girl.”

“I love it,” Dot confirmed, “though it’s more stressful running a shop than I ever imagined it would be.”

“Oh, I can believe that,” Maia laughed. “Magnus, I should take your pizza order. Any dietary requirements?” 

“None, I’m not fussy,” Magnus assured her, “I’m happy to eat anything.”

“Ah, my favourite kind of person,” Maia teased them, “what do you fancy?” 

Magnus hummed thoughtfully. “I’m not really all that hungry, honestly. Maybe just some garlic bread?”

“You can’t eat garlic bread at an LGBTQ mixer, Magnus,” Cat chided them as she reappeared with two cups of soda, handing one off to Dot. “Your future partner could be right here.”

“She has a point, Magnus,” Maia agreed, “there’s plenty of cuties here.”

Magnus’ eyes darted over to the place they’d last seen Alec, but he was gone. “If my future partner holds my love of garlic against me, it’ll never work.”

The three women laughed, and Magnus’ eyes moved back to them, a smile lighting up their face.

“Great to see you, Catarina.”

Magnus recognised that voice. And judging by the way Dot smirked at them, Magnus wasn’t wrong in their identification of said voice. 

“Nice to see you too, Alec. Enjoying the party?” Cat greeted Alec over Magnus’ shoulder. 

“I should go take some more pizza orders,” Maia excused herself, giving Magnus a wink as she headed off to another group chatting close by. 

“Yeah, I’m surprised by how many people are here,” Alec smiled shyly at Magnus as he stepped next to them to join the group’s little circle. “You having a good night, Magnus?” 

“I’ve only been here a few minutes,” Magnus admitted, “but… The company seems good, so I can’t complain.”

Alec’s smile grew at the implication, and Magnus smiled back. “I, um, I noticed you got your car fixed. And I have something for you.” He handed Magnus his cup of soda to dig in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“You do?” Magnus asked, taken aback by the gesture. He was curious as to what exactly Alec would have gotten him. 

“Your other sticker ended up in the middle of that damned dent and I noticed you didn’t have a new one yet, so…” Alec handed him a slip of paper, and when Magnus looked down they chuckled softly. “I tried to find the same one, but all the ones I found were too small...”

It was a non-binary flag sticker with the words ‘I am valid’ printed underneath in the flag colours. Magnus was so surprised that they weren’t sure what to say, their breath hitching in their throat when they met Alec’s eyes to see earnest hope reflected back to them. “I love it,” Magnus admitted, “this is really sweet, Alexander, thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Alec insisted, “I was an asshole. Like, a huge asshole.”

Magnus shook their head. “I wasn’t exactly nice to you, either.”

“Because I’d misgendered you for weeks,” Alec pointed out. “I’d have been an asshole to me too.”

“It’s in the past,” Magnus assured him, sheepishness rising in them when they noticed that Cat and Dot had disappeared. They hadn’t even noticed the two women leave, as caught up as they’d been in Alec’s eyes and his sweet gift. 

“I hope that we can be friends from now on,” Alec said tentatively, “I, well, I mean I don’t know about you, but I could really use a trans friend around here.”

“Me too,” Magnus agreed, their voice soft. “I’d like that, Alexander. Oh,” Magnus tutted at themselves, “it’s Alec you prefer, isn’t it? Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Alec’s cheeks went a little pink. “I like the sound of Alexander when you say it.”

“Is this the famous Professor Bane I’ve heard so much about?” A blond man elbowed Alec in the ribs, grinning from ear to ear. 

Magnus’ eyebrows rose a little. “Uh, yes, that’s me, though I don’t know about famous…”

“It’s not often someone calls this one out on his bullshit,” the blond offered Magnus his hand. “I’m Jace.”

“Magnus.” Magnus shook his hand, glancing furtively at Alec, whose blush had deepened to a light red. 

“You say that like you don’t delight in telling me when I’m being unreasonable,” Alec muttered. 

“True,” Jace allowed, shooting Magnus a wink. 

“Ignore him, he takes a lot of joy in being a pain in my ass,” Alec said, and Jace pretended to be wounded. 

Magnus laughed uneasily, their gaze flitting between the two men. “You two are a cute couple.” If by cute you mean completely bizarre and dysfunctional, Magnus supplied in their mind.

“A couple?!” Jace spluttered, and Alec choked on his drink. “No, no, no, we’re brothers. Definitely not boyfriends.”

“Oh!” Magnus felt relieved, and refused to examine the feeling. 

“My family took Jace in when we were kids, after his birth family-”

“You don’t need to tell them my tragic backstory, Alec,” Jace patted Alec on the back, “I’m sure Magnus believes us.”

Magnus laughed. “I promise you I do.”

Alec relaxed visibly. “Good.”

“Good?” Magnus asked, tilting their head to the side a little.

“Jace is just here for moral support, but I’m beginning to realise that I should’ve brought my sister Izzy instead.” Alec said pointedly, apparently embarrassed by his previous statement.

“Ouch!” Jace gasped.

Alec smiled slightly. “You’re embarrassing.”

Jace winced playfully. “You’re killing me here, man.”

“Then go away,” Alec answered sweetly, and Jace snorted, faking an uppercut to Alec’s sternum. 

“See you later, Magnus.” 

Magnus nodded politely at Jace. “Nice to meet you, Jace.”

“I’m sorry for him,” Alec said once Jace had wandered off to talk to a redhead he’d apparently recognised, “I just found the idea of coming here alone a little daunting, and my friend Aline’s bringing a date, so…”

“It’s nice to see a cis man being so supportive of a trans brother.” Magnus smiled, “and he seems harmless enough.”

“Oh, he’s got a heart of gold, he’s just really heterosexual.”

The comment made Magnus laugh, and Alec’s smile widened at the sound. “He can’t help that.”

“No, he can’t,” Alec agreed. “So how do you know Catarina?”

“Oh, we’ve been friends for years. We were roommates as undergraduates.” Magnus shrugged, “she was my family after I came out.”

“She’s an amazing woman,” Alec offered, “if I were into women I might be a little bit in love with her. She’s been so understanding and careful dealing with me and the other trans guys in her trial. And she’s so much fun to be around, she really is.”

Magnus glanced over at Cat and Dot, who were chatting to some people Magnus didn’t recognise, a fond smile on their face. “Yeah, she’s the best.” 

“So, um,” Alec bit the inside of his cheek. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Depends what it is,” Magnus teased.

“What made you think I was straight?” Alec asked, tilting his head to the side, “because clearly if I’m putting out that vibe, I have some adjustments to make.”

“Well…” Magnus noticed the humourous glint in Alec’s eye, and tapped their chin thoughtfully. “Your briefcase is sinfully ugly.”

Alec laughed. “You know, not all gay guys know how to accessorise. And we can’t all be blessed with your eye for fashion. Besides,” he shrugged, “a briefcase is practical, and my sister said I looked like an overgrown teenager carrying around a backpack.”

“Which is why you invest in a good satchel,” Magnus told him, pleased that Alec had noticed their fondness for fashion. Admittedly it was difficult to miss, given the fact that Magnus was currently dressed to the nines in a thigh-length black designer jacket with deep purple flower detailing, paired with a matching purple silk shirt and a perfectly tailored pair of pants, but the compliment was appreciated. 

“Where’d you get yours from?” Alec asked.

Magnus bit their lip. “I’ll text you the link. But you have to promise not to get the same one as me.” They held out their ringed hand for Alec’s phone.

Alec grinned, his whole face lighting up as he handed over his phone. “It might be cute to get matching ones.”

“Don’t you dare,” Magnus giggled, shaking their head as they put their number into Alec’s phone and texted themselves Alec’s name. “Matching outfits are only cute on old married couples.”

“Guess I’d better take you to dinner then, huh?” The question was asked so quickly that Magnus wasn’t sure they’d heard completely correctly, but the nerves that had appeared on Alec’s face told Magnus that they’d heard Alec right. 

There was a warm, nervous-excited feeling deep in Magnus’ gut that they didn’t want to examine too hard. They were way too old to be getting school girl crushes like this. “I’d like that,” they answered, and Alec let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, good.” Alec seemed incredibly pleased with himself, and it made Magnus chuckle. “Cool, I’ll text you.” 

“It’s sort of refreshing, you know,” Magnus remarked, their voice soft.

Alec arched his eyebrow. “What is?” 

“A gay guy hitting on me even though I’m not a man. Most of them are weird about it.” 

“Well, being trans myself I guess I care a little less about that stuff. All I know is that I like you, and that I’m attracted to you. I don’t know what else is supposed to matter outside that.” Alec shrugged.

“Yeah, exactly, and then cis gays say that we’re obsessed with labels…” Magnus rolled their eyes.

Alec snorted. “Right? When I first came out I was this, like, experimental bit of intrigue for them all. But now I pass those same guys say that I’m tricking people. Like…? I don’t get it.”

“They really say that about you? That’s disgusting,” Magnus shook their head. “Well, now I can understand why you were so prickly with me. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“I mean yeah, but I probably shouldn’t be as jaded as I am,” Alec admitted. “The way I treated you wasn’t cute either.”

Magnus smiled slightly. “You’ve already apologised plenty, Alexander.”

“And I’ll do it again,” Alec insisted, half-joking.

“I’ve forgiven you already.”

“Promise?” 

Magnus held up his pinky finger. “Promise.”

Alec laughed softly, and curled his finger around Magnus’. “Alright. No more apologies from either of us. Deal?”

“Deal,” Magnus agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Helen followed Aline’s eyes to a couple standing over the other side of the room, her eyebrow arching. “Am I missing something? You’re staring at that guy over there like you’re trying to communicate telepathically with him.”

“Sorry,” Aline chuckled, giving up her quest to make eye contact with Alec. “He’s my friend, we carpool. I was trying to get his attention, but he’s clearly caught up in Professor Bane.” 

“It’s cute,” Helen observed, “how long have they been together?”

“Fuck if I know,” Aline shook her head, “last I heard they were mortal enemies.”

Helen laughed. “No, really…”

“I’m not kidding!”

Helen looked over at the couple again, stood very close together, their pinky fingers held interlocked between them as they talked to someone else. “Well damn… Seems like your friend’s forgotten to catch you up.”

“Sorry, I’m done talking about them, I promise,” Aline shook herself out of her preoccupation with Alec, a little embarrassed. “I should be focussed on the cutie I’m on a date with.”

“Maybe,” Helen teased, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “It’s okay, though. Our first date we did get super drunk, it was always gonna be a little awkward meeting up sober.”

“You weren’t that drunk,” Aline giggled, “I, on the other hand…”

“Oh, I was by the time we left that bar,” Helen insisted, “I was just trying to keep it together so I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of the most beautiful woman to ever show interest in me.”

“Stop that,” Aline blushed, nudging Helen gently. “You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not, have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?” 

Aline preened a little, pleased. “I caught a glimpse…”

“Then you know,” Helen shrugged, “that you are unfairly gorgeous.”

“Says you,” Aline argued, “with your abs.”

Helen laughed. “I knew you’d use those against me. Should’ve known better than to flash them on the first date, now you’re just gonna date me for my abs.”

Aline bit her lip, hoping it would hide the way she just wanted to grin. She liked Helen so, so much. So much she didn’t know what to do with it. “You’re kinda funny too, so I think you’re safe.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.” Helen looked away to survey the room, and Aline didn’t miss the glint of joy in her eyes. “Shall we get a drink?”

“Only if it’s not alcohol, I’m determined to see tonight through sober.” 

“I don’t think they have any,” Helen led her over to the drinks table, “just soda. What do you want?” 

“Do they have Mountain Dew?” Aline asked, her eyes flitting over the selection of bottles.

“Mountain Dew? I had you pegged as more of a pepsi kinda girl.”

Aline put her hand to her chest. “Ew, what? I have a personality.”

“Pepsi has personality! It has Beyonce!” Helen grinned, rising to the bait.

“It had Beyonce, circa 2005.” Aline corrected her. “Mountain Dew has never let me down since I was an undergrad.”

“Alright, guess what soda I want,” Helen urged, narrowing her eyes slightly to perform a sexy look as Aline looked her over, which had Aline giggling again. 

“Ginger ale?” 

Helen’s mouth dropped open. “I am not a grandma!”

Aline was overcome with giggles, her hand coming up to her nose to cover her mouth. 

“I should dump you right here, damn!” Helen teased, shaking her head. “You’re so cruel to me.”

“You can’t dump me,” Aline pointed out, “you haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend yet.”

Helen gigged. “I’ll add it to my to-do list.”

“Better do it soon or I might beat you to it.”

“And we wouldn’t want that,” Helen replied, pouring Aline some Mountain Dew and handing her the cup. “But our grandkids will never let us down if we become an official couple while drinking Mountain Dew.”

Aline could barely believe Helen’s boldness, but she loved it. It was so refreshing from all the shyness and fear of commitment that she’d dealt with in previous partners. “Oh so you’ve moved right past picking out child names onto grandchildren!”

“I’ve got at least…” Helen narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, “two names.”

Aline shook her head, grinning from ear to ear. 

They fell into a comfortable silence for a minute, drinking their soda and trying to restrain the intoxicating joy that both felt growing in their hearts. When Aline reached past Helen to put some money in the pizza fund, Helen watched her with tender eyes.

“So what did you decide to do about that student?” She asked. “You seemed pretty upset about it before.”

Aline sighed, shrugging one shoulder. “I can’t kick her out of the class, the rest of the faculty thinks I should be engaging with her and encouraging her to have her own views. Academia is one thing, and in that realm debate is welcome, but when academia affects policy and real people’s lives, I don’t think that debating whether racism plays a part in our society and policy is okay.”

“It’s debating whether racism is alive that got us into this mess in the first place,” Helen agreed. “I’m sorry that the other staff aren’t with you on this. They should have more empathy.”

“Empathy? In politicians?” Aline snorted.

Helen chuckled softly. “Yeah, okay, maybe that’s a little much to ask. But at the very least you should be able to transfer the girl out of your class.”

“I mean, her essays are terrible and illogical, so I can at least fail her,” Aline shrugged, “though if I know people like her, and I do, she’ll complain that I’m biased.”

“Ugh, of course she will. That sucks. At least if her essays are that bad, whoever sees to the complaint will take your side?” 

“I mean I hope so. I can’t pass her just because I’m afraid her straight white ass is gonna run and complain to the manager.” Aline folded her arms, her eyebrows furrowed. 

Helen put a gentle hand on her arm, stroking it gently. “You shouldn’t have to deal with people like that.”

“It comes with the job,” Aline replied, giving Helen a rueful smile. “I love it most of the time, but there seems to be more and more right-wing views creeping into my classroom.”

“And here I always thought that the younger generations were further left than us…”

“Oh, they are. I mean, the left-wing students are more left. I have a lot of socialists and Marxists in my classes. They’re getting more radical at the same rate as the conservatives. When I first started teaching most kids would be centre left or centre right, or centre. But now… Everyone is more extreme.” Aline explained, using her hands to illustrate it.

Helen nodded. “That makes sense. It’s kinda worrying, but it makes sense.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t be upset if the radical left were in charge,” Aline mused, “the worst thing about their ideas is taxing all the billionaires heavily, which isn’t the worst idea.”

Helen smiled. “Sounds like you’re moving further left too, Professor Penhallow.”

Aline laughed, tilting her head to the side. “You might be right.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I think it’s safe to say that your first LGBTQ staff mixer was a huge success,” Clary said as she helped Maia stack the chairs back up against the wall.

Maia smiled. “Yeah, I think it was. There wasn’t too much pizza left over, and we have a bunch of money left over to give to the Black Trans Travel Fund. And everyone seemed to have a good time. I’m sorry you missed so much of it.”

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault that traffic was so bad on my soda run.” Clary shrugged, “and we know for next time to get more.”

“I wish I’d been able to spend more of the night with you,” Maia admitted, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Seeming as this was meant to be our first date.”

“Guess you’ll just have to take me out for a do-over,” Clary sighed like it was a big disappointment, and Maia grinned.

“How’s tomorrow night?” 

“Perfect.”

Maia nodded, and after a moment of eye contact, Clary moved close enough to kiss her. Maia’s hand on Clary’s waist felt exciting, and Clary clung to the fabric of Maia’s t-shirt as she deepened the kiss, a thrill racing up her spine to the hairs on the back of her neck.

“Yeah, perfect,” Clary whispered breathlessly as they parted, and Maia giggled again.


	4. Epilogue: One Year Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for the Epilogue:
> 
> Institutionalised transphobia/racism: Cat is experiencing the institutionalised transphobia (and no doubt racism) that she was worried about in the outset of her study, but there is a breakthrough at the end of the fic!
> 
> Institutionalised racism in regards to police: Luke, Clary and Jace have worked together on a module called ‘Bigotry in Crime and Law Enforcement’, and Luke talks about the ways he’s had to dodge pushback from police academies and the college, and the possibility of complaints from conservative students.

“But yeah, in the end, we managed to come to an agreement.” Clary sighed, raking her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face, “it wasn’t easy, though.”

“You’ve had the patience of a saint with him,” Aline told her, “Jace has been like a little brother to me for a long time, but he can be such an asshole when he doesn’t get his way.”

“You’re telling me,” Clary huffed out a laugh. “I’m just glad Luke was able to get us on the same page. Once we actually sat down and talked about why we each felt so strongly about our ideas, it was easier.”

“And now you’re gonna have one of the most groundbreaking criminology modules in the country!” Helen sounded impressed. “You, Jace and Luke deserve it after all the work you’ve put in over the past year.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Clary sighed, a little smile on her face. “Sorry, I’ve been talking about me this whole time when there’s something much bigger to talk about.”

Aline waved it away, swaying on her seat to press her shoulder to Helen’s. “We’ve basically been joined at the hip since the day we met, it can’t have been a surprise to anybody.” 

“Still, look at that thing!” Clary marvelled as Aline put out her hand to show off the glittering engagement ring on her finger. “It’s gorgeous.”

“We saw it in the window while we were at the mall shopping for shelves, and we looked at each other and just knew,” Helen sighed, running her fingers through Aline’s hair, “we blurted it out at the same time.”

“That’s so cute,” Clary gushed, “you have to tell the whole story in detail when Maia gets here, hopefully you’ll give her an idea.” 

Aline giggled. “Oh, it’s that serious between you two?” 

“I want it to be,” Clary admitted with a smile. “We’ve talked about moving in together, but Maia wants to take our time, which is totally reasonable considering what she went through in the past.”

“Of course,” Helen nodded. It had taken a while for Maia to open up to her friends at Alicante College about her past, but when she had, they’d all been there for her. “I’m sure she’s looking forward to moving in together just as much as you are.” 

Aline hummed in agreement. “Maia adores you, I bet it won’t be much longer.”

“I’m in no rush,” Clary shrugged, wondering if Maia was on her way. “I’d wait forever for her.”

As if she’d summoned her, almost the moment the words were out of her mouth, there was a knock at the door, and Clary’s phone buzzed with a text from Maia. 

“I got it,” Helen volunteered, heading out into the hallway to open the door for Maia. “Speak of the devil…”

“Uh oh, am I in trouble?” Maia grinned, her eyes finding Clary as she came into the room. “Sorry I’m late, doll.”

“You’re always in trouble,” Clary flirted, which made Maia laugh. “But it looks like you brought food, so we forgive you.”

“Sushi from Sugarfish,” Maia told them as she set the bag on the dining table. “I was promised that y’all lovebirds would have the wine.”

“We even have a choice,” Aline boasted as she got up, “merlot, pinot noir or…” She paused for dramatic effect, “prosecco.”

“Prosecco!” Clary and Maia said at the same time, and Helen and Aline laughed.

“We’re celebrating your engagement, break out the good stuff!” Clary urged. 

Helen set out the glasses while Aline got the wine out of the refrigerator, and Maia and Clary got all the sushi trays out of the bag and set it out in the middle of the table. There was a cheer from the other three women when Aline popped the cork, and they all took their seats as Aline poured them each a glass. They all lifted their flutes as Aline took her seat net to Helen.

“To Helen and Aline,” Clary said, smiling at the couple.

“And to confirming the UHaul lesbian stereotype,” Aline added, which made Helen dissolve into a fit of giggles as they all clinked their glasses together.

~~~~~~~~~~

“You weren’t supposed to turn up so early,” Dot scolded Magnus, slapping their hand that had been reaching for the cutlery. “You’re guests!”

“And it’s my job to set the table!” Madzie insisted, taking the cutlery.

“Right, sorry Madzie,” Magnus nodded. 

“They are incapable of sitting down and watching other people do things,” Alec teased, rubbing Magnus’ back. “But Madzie’s in charge tonight, babe, she won’t have you taking her job!”

“Only I know how to do it right,” Madzie shrugged. 

Dot smiled fondly at her daughter, putting a thumb up when Madzie looked at her for approval. “I’ll go and check on the food. You should tell them about your award in school, Madz.”

“You got an award?” Alec repeated, impressed. 

Madzie smiled, her eyes still on the table, where she was carefully placing the cutlery. “I got one hundred percent on all the spelling tests this year.”

“Wow, Madz, you really are Mommys’ little genius, huh?” Magnus gasped, brimming with pride. “That’s amazing!”

“I like spelling,” Madzie shrugged, though the bounce in her step told Magnus and Alec that she was happy with their compliments. 

“Maybe one day you’ll be an English professor like me, huh? You gonna grow up and steal my job, Missie Loss?” Alec pressed, and Madzie giggled, shaking her head. “No?”

“No.” Madzie finished putting the cutlery in front of Alec, and clambered up into his lap. “Your job is boring.”

Magnus burst out laughing.

“It is not!” Alec made a show of pouting, and Madzie giggled. “You put her up to this, didn’t you?” He asked Magnus.

“I absolutely did not,” Magnus promised, “Madzie just has exquisite taste.”

Madzie frowned. “How do you spell exquisite?”

Magnus spelled it out for her, and she repeated it back to him. “Exactly. It means very, very good.”

“My spelling is exquisite.” Madzie tried out the word.

“It sure is, beansprout,” Cat supplied as she came into the room, and Madzie hopped off Alec’s lap to go to her Mom’s side. “You two are early.”

“It didn’t take as long for us to get a cab as we thought it might,” Magnus shrugged, “you know how I hate to be late.”

“I’m surprised you don’t expect Magnus to be early,” Alec mused, “have they ever been late to anything in their life?”

“I don’t think so,” Cat laughed, “they’re early for everything.”

“I like to have time to get myself situated,” Magnus defended, and Alec leaned over to kiss their cheek. 

“It’s one of the things I love about you,” Alec murmured, and Magnus melted. Once he’d given Magnus a quick peck on the lips, he noticed that Cat looked a little upset. “Cat? You alright?” He asked, and Magnus glanced at her too.

Cat smiled tiredly. “I just got yet another rejection from a medical journal.”

“Are you serious?” Magnus sympathised, “this is getting ridiculous now, they shouldn’t be able to do this. Your research was sound!”

“And it could make a huge difference to the lives of trans men and non binary people! It’s terrible that they’re no platforming you,” Alec added. “This sucks, Cat, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not exquisite at all,” Madzie supplied, which made Cat smile a little more happily. Her daughter always knew what to say to make her feel better, even if it was on accident most of the time. 

“It really isn’t,” Cat agreed, shrugging one shoulder, “but that’s just the way it is, unfortunately. I’m sure, eventually, when a few more doctors have done the research, I’ll be included. In the meantime, it’s lucky I have tenure at Alicante, because I don’t think I’m getting invited to speak at any conferences any time soon.”

“Dinner’s just about ready, we just need to wait for Luke now,” Dot said, checking her watch as she came out of the kitchen. Noticing the mood in the room, she looked at her wife with a frown. “What? What’s happened?”

“Just heard back from the last journal. They passed,” Cat told her, and Dot tutted. 

“Disgusting,” she muttered, “absolutely disgusting.”

“Have you thought about sending your paper off to other, less transphobic countries?” Alec suggested, “like… I don’t know, Sweden or something?” 

“That’s my next option,” she agreed, “but it’s a little hard to swallow that after all this work we’ve done, we can’t make a difference to trans folks living here.”

“You’ve made a difference to the trans people you worked with on this study,” Magnus pointed out, “you’ve empowered them to reject the false information that their doctors will try to force on them. Surely that counts for something?”

“They’re right, babe, you made a huge difference to two hundred trans masculine people,” Dot reminded her, walking over to rub Cat’s shoulders, “don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Thanks, babe,” Cat smiled slightly, tipping her head back to get a kiss on the forehead. 

“We believe in you,” Dot insisted, “don’t we, Madz?”

“Yes,” Madzie agreed, her face serious. “We believe in you.”

Cat gave her a little squeeze. “Thanks, beansprout.”

“I’ll get it,” Alec offered when they heard a knock at the door, “it’s probably Luke.”

“Am I the last one here again?” Luke asked, crestfallen. “You haven’t been waiting, have you?” 

“Nah, Magnus and I haven’t been here long.” Alec assured him. “Come in.”

“I’ve got a nice red,” Luke told the room as he entered.

“Excellent, I can always count on you to bring some good wine,” Dot smiled, taking it from him. “I hope you’re all hungry.” 

“I’m hungry!” Madzie told her, hopping off Catarina’s lap to sit on her chair between Catarina and Alec. Luke sat opposite Magnus, leaving a seat between himself and Catarina for Dot. 

“Do you want help dishing up?” Alec offered, and Dot nodded, waving him through to the kitchen. 

“Been busy today, Luke?” Cat asked, wanting to forget about her career worries for the moment. 

“Just finalised the new module with Clary and Jace,” Luke sighed in relief, tipping his head back. “I’m so glad I could convince them to work together. They’re finally happy with it.”

“Did you decide on a name for it?” Magnus enquired. It had been a huge topic of discussion at these dinner parties over the past few months.

Luke nodded, holding up his hands in a sweeping motion as he recited, “Bigotry in Crime and Law Enforcement.” 

“How do you spell Bigotry?” Madzie asked, her eyebrows furrowed. 

“B-I-G-O-T-R-Y. Bigotry,” Luke answered, “it’s a word to describe all those nasty beliefs that people have to judge people who aren’t like them.”

“There is a lot of bigotry in President Trump’s heart,” Magnus volunteered, and Madzie nodded.

“There’s no bigotry in both my Mommy’s hearts. Right?” Madzie checked.

“Exactly, Madz.” Luke smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

“I’m impressed that the college gave you the go-ahead,” Cat stated, “you must’ve worked your butt off convincing them.”

Luke shrugged. “I argued that it would make the course stand out to people of colour, and that more and more people of colour are looking at getting into crime prevention to change the system from within. We could capitalise on that.” 

“If it means more money for them they’ll be happy,” Magnus agreed, “though aren’t you worried about pushback from the cop academies?” 

“The one I work with are trying to convince people of colour that they’re invested in change. If they refuse to take students from this course then that’ll go against the narrative they’re trying to push. So they’re cornered.” Luke smiled, winking at Magnus. “And two white people came up with it, so they can’t accuse me of being reverse racist or whatever nonsense.”

“From what Aline’s told me and Alec about her classes, Clary and Jace will have their work cut out for them.” Magnus observed.

“There’ll probably be complaints from the MAGA kids,” Cat agreed.

Luke hummed. “They’ll always find something to complain about.”

“They will,” Magnus chuckled, “honestly I’m grateful to be teaching chemistry. Social issues rarely come into it.”

“Oh, they’ll find a way to work themselves in there,” Cat warned them, “just look at me.”

“True,” Magnus allowed. “Very true.”

“Who’s ready for pasta?” Dot asked, carrying a pot of pasta sauce in between two oven mitt-ed hands. “Lean back, beansprout, I gotta get past you,” she reminded Madzie, putting the pot down on the heatproof mats in the middle of the table.

“That smells amazing, baby,” Cat smiled.

“Excuse me,” Alec murmured, dodging Dot as she went back to the kitchen to get the rest of the food, “I have the honourable Miss Madzie Loss’ plate.” He bowed slightly as he placed the plate in front of her, and she giggled. 

Magnus watched them with fond eyes. Alec adored children, and they adored him. They’d never considered themselves the kind of person who’d want a family, but Alec was slowly changing their mind. He was just too precious with kids. “Madzie, I think my boyfriend likes you more than he likes me, you know.”

“I have yours here too, hot stuff,” Alec winked, pressing a kiss to the top of Magnus’ head as he placed the plate in front of them and handed a plate over to Cat.

“Alec, sweetie, can you grab the garlic bread?” Dot requested as she brought in the other three plates. 

“Sure,” Alec headed back into the kitchen, “shall I grab the wine opener as well?”

“Yes!” Luke told him, “I’m going to need a glass to stomach all the lovey dovey nonsense going on at this table!” 

Everyone laughed, though no-one made any apologies. As Cat was spooning some sauce onto the plate next to Madzie’s pasta, her phone buzzed. 

“Sorry, I’ll-”

When Cat’s sentence cut off mid-phrase, Magnus and Dot turned their heads to look at her. She was staring at her phone, her eyes slowly widening. 

“Babe…?” Dot prompted, “is everything okay?”

“I-I… Wait.” Cat unlocked her phone, her eyes scanning the screen. “It’s from the LGBTQ Rights Committee at the United Nations.”

“What?!” Dot’s eyes lit up. “What does it say?!”

“What? What’s going on? What did I miss?” Alec asked, putting the garlic bread down and handing the bottle opener to Luke.

Cat slowly got to her feet. “They want me to present my research to them in two weeks.”

“Who do? What?” 

“The United Nations!” Magnus told him as Dot rushed around the table to hug her wife tightly. 

“That’s incredible! Congratulations, Cat!” Alec gasped.

Madzie, never one to be left out, got up to hug her Moms too. “It all works out in the end!”


End file.
